Setup Tradeoffs: The Classic “Fast But Eats Tyres” Problem
Lap time doesn’t just come from speed — it comes from where you spend grip, and how aggressively you’re willing to spend it early to cash out a position before the tyre bill arrives. That’s why the “fast but eats tyres” setup never dies in Formula 1: it’s a deliberate choice to convert peak performance into track position, knowing the race will later demand interest payments in degradation, temperature, and driver workload. In 2025, with Lando Norris taking the title by two points (423–421 over Max Verstappen) and McLaren topping the Constructors’ table on 833 points, the margins were so thin that “slightly worse tyres” wasn’t an abstract concept — it was literally the difference between champion and runner-up.
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